CNJ staff The U.S. Farm Service Agency is modifying its Conservation Reserve Program policies to help agricultural producers affected by drought. FSA is permitting farmers and ranchers approved for emergency grazing in drought-stricken states, including New Mexico, to extend the emergency grazing period for a month, to Oct. 31, without an additional payment reduction, according […]

Thomas Garcia More than 5,000 acres of grassland have burned in three days from multiple fires in Quay and Harding counties. Eleven fire agencies responded to five fires ignited by lightning in Harding County, said Logan Fire Chief Rex Stall. “The different crews did an outstanding job of containing and putting out the fires,” Stall […]

Chelle Delaney Two brush fires on Monday burned more than 2,000 acres, said Quay County Fire Marshal Don Adams. A first fire burned about 500 acres on Monday morning near the Anniston Cemetery on Highway 469, Adams said. No sooner than firefighters had contained that fire, they were called out to another in mid-afternoon. At […]

By Laura Nesbitt About 500 people from the Estancia Valley showed up in support of a proposed move by the Albuquerque Downs to Moriarty at a New Mexico Racing Commission hearing on Tuesday night at the Moriarty Civic Center. Moriarty annexed 700 acres north of Interstate 40 and east of N.M. 41 at the request […]

By Chelle Delaney In a friendly bidding fray that saw bids topped by as little as $1 and as much as $100, the Arch Hurley Conservancy District sold off about 40 acres in water rights Tuesday. The action was approved by the district’s board after owners defaulted on their payments. Nine lots of about 5 […]

By Ryn Gargulinski: QCS A Wednesday morning grassfire raged for about eight hours and wiped out approximately 1,500 acres of hay and grassland, said Tucumcari Fire Chief Mike Cherry. He said no one was injured in the blaze, which happened 11 miles southeast of Tucumcari, but it had power enough to annihilate the landscape and […]

By William Thompson: Quay County Sun – Some area farmers say rains have hindered crop. Quay County alfalfa hay farmers began cutting recently, with results varying widely. Donald Carter, who farms about 120 acres of alfalfa 23 miles west of Tucumcari, said he had no luck at all with his alfalfa. He wound up shredding […]

By Tony Farkas Since the High Plains’ economy is based on agriculture, and since water for crops and livestock may soon be in short supply, one solution seems obvious: Farmers should stop irrigating and raise dryland crops. But that won’t work, most agricultural experts agree. “I don’t see that happening, not in my lifetime,” said […]